Mechanism for propelling boats



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- S. LEBENHEIM. MECHANISM FOR PROPELLING BOATS.

No. 440,089. Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

INVENTOH. (5 MM ATTORNEYS ms PETERS co. PHOYO-LIT (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. S. LEBENHEIM.

MECHANISM FOR PROPELLING BOATS.

Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

IN VE N TOR A TTOHNEYS UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEYMOUR LEBENHEIH, OF GLOVERSVILLE, NEW YORK.

MECHANISM FOR PROPELLING BOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 440,089, dated November 4, 1890.

Application filed February 13, 1890. Renewed October 9, 1890. Serial No. 367,602. (No modeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SEYMOUR LEBENHEIM, of Gloversville, in the county of Fulton and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mechanism for Propelling Boats, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in means for propelling boats, especially small boats, and has for its object to provide a mechanism adapted to be used in connection with propellers, capable of operation through the medium of crank-arms adapted to be operated with what is known as a rowing motion; and the invention consists in thenovel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a boat havingmy improved mechanism applied, the said mechanism being illustrated as driving a propeller located at the stern of the boat; and Fig. 2 is a central vertical and longitudinal section of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a boat having the mechanism attached and so arranged as to drive propellers located at .the sides of the boat. Fig. 4 is, a side elevation of the boat, partly broken away amidships. Fig. 5 is a partial transverse section of the boat, illustrating an end View of the driving mechanism; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the operative parts of the mechanism.

At each side of the boat, near the gunwales, a frame 10, preferably of skeleton construction, is located. In the opposed faces of the skeleton frame 10 two stud-axles 11 and 12 are secured, and upon the forward axles 11 a gear-wheel 13 is loosely mounted, having attached at its center upon its inner face a ratchet-Wheel 14:. Upon the stud-axles 12 similar gear-wheels 15 are loosely mounted, the gears 13 and 15 at each side being made to mesh, and the said gear-wheels are each provided upon its inner face with a ratchetwheel 16, attached thereto, the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 16 beinginclined in an opposite direction to those of the ratchet-wheel 14.

Upon each of the stud-axles 11 the lower end of a lever 17 is fulcrumed, and upon said lever a spring-pressed pawl 18 is pivoted, adapted for contact with the ratchet-wheel 14. A similar lever 19 is fulcrumed upon each stud-axle 12, and the lever 19 is also provided with a spring-pressed pawl 20, adapted to contact with the ratchet 16, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6.

In each of the frames 10,near'the rear ends thereof, an axle 21 is journaled, one end of which projects through the inner faces of said frames, and upon the inner projecting end of each axle 21 a pinion 22' is keyed or otherwise secured, which pinions mesh with gear-wheels 15, above referred to. Within each frame upon each axle 21 a gear 23 is loosely mounted, and a spring 24. is attached to each axle 21 at one end and at the opposite end to the gear 23 upon the axle, the at tachment of the springs to the gears being efiected near their peripheral surface.

From the inner side of each frame 10, near the rear, one extremity of a spring stop-bar 25 is secured, the stop-bar of each frame at its free end being adapted to contact with the ratchet-wheel16 of the gear 15,- journaled in the frame to which the spring-stop-bar is secured.

When the mechanism is to be employed to drive a propeller 26, located at the rear of the boat, the said propeller is attached to a shaft 27, which leads forward, terminating at a point between the opposed sets of mechanism, the inner extremity of the propeller-shaft being provided with a bevel-gear 28. In the rear of the frames 10 the extremities of a drive-shaft 29 are journalcd, each extremity of the driveshaft having attached thereto a pinion 30, which meshes with the loosely-mounted gears 23. Upon the shaft 29 a sleeve 30" is held to slide, being moved either to the right or to the left by means of a shifting-lever 31. The sleeve at each extremity terminates in a clutch-section 32, each clutch-section having attached thereto a bevel-gear 33, adapted to mesh with the bevel-gear 28 of the propellershaft. The clutch-sections of the sleeve 30 are purposed to contact with opposed clutchsections 34, fast to the drive-shaft, the object of the sleeve being to reverse the motion of ICO the propeller, which is accomplished by bringing one or the other of the gears 33 in contact with the propeller-shaft gear 28.

The levers 17 and 19 are connected, preferably, by ,a link 35, whereby they are moved simultaneously in the same direction. Thus, in operatiomif the levers are, for instance, carried in the direction of the stern of the the boat, the pawls of the levers 19,catching upon the ratchet-wheels 16, revolve the gears 15, while the pawls of the levers 17 slip over the ratchet-wheels of the gears 13, and as the gears 15 are revolved they in turn revolve the pinions 22, which turning the axles 21 coil the springs 24, thereby compelling the spring-carrying gears 23 to revolve in the same direction and turn the drive-shaft,whereby motion is communicated to the propeller in the manner heretofore described. The water acts as a governor upon the propeller, and when the limit of the rear stroke of the levers is reached, the gears 23 being loosely mounted, the spring uncoils slightly, and upon the forward strokes of the levers 17 and 19 the pawls of the levers 17, acting upon the ratchets 14 of the forward gears 13, revolve thereby the intermediate gears 15 in the same direction as upon the rear strokes of the levers, and thus a continuous rotary motion is imparted to the propeller-shaft.

In the construction shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5 the propellers are located at the sides of the boat, and betweenthegunwales and the frames 10 a drive-shaft 36 is mounted in suitable bearings, which drive-shaft is provided with a gear 36 meshing with the gear 23, and is fitted with a shifting-gear of similar construction to that described in connection-with the drive-shaft 29. The shifting-levers 31, however, instead of being vertically, are horizontally located. The propeller-shaft is journaled in one member of an angular bracket 38, attached to the sides of the boat beneath the water-line, and the bevel-gear 28 thereof meshes with a bevel-gear 38, secured to a perpendicular shaft 39, which passes upward within the boat, and is provided at its upper end with a bevel-gear 40, adapted to mesh with the shifting-gears 33.

The shaft 41, (illustrated in Fig. 3,) which corresponds to the drive-shaft 29, (shown in Fig. 1,) is adapted for use to permit but one set of mechanism only being used, if so desired, and to that end the shaft 41 is provided at each end with a pinion 42, meshing with the spring-carrying gears 23. One end of this shaft is rectangular and is free to move in the left-hand pinion, for instance, and near the other end the shaft is provided with a clutchsection 43. The right-hand pinion is loosely mounted upon the shaft 41, and has attached ,thereto a clutch-section 44. Thus when the clutch-sections 43 and 44 are out of engagement the right-hand pinion is idle, and consequently motion is not imparted to the righthand mechanism when the left-hand mechanism is in operation. Both mechanisms may be operated, however, one from the other by causing the clutch-sections 43 and 44 to engage, a shifting lever 31 being provided.

I desire it to be distinctly'understood that any form of spring 24 may be employed, and that the forward gears 13 and levers 17 may be omitted, if desired; also, that a propeller may be located in the stern and one at each side, if such arrangement be chosen, in which event the rear propeller is driven substantially as shown in Fig. 1 and the side propellers as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, all being operated simultaneously. It is obvious that the mechanism maybe operated by one or by more persons, as occasion may demand.

The propellers may be substituted by paddle-wheels, in which event the shafts 29 in Fig. l and the shafts 36 in Fig. 3 are carried horizontally through the sides of the boat.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a device for propelling boats, the combination, with a propeller and its shaft, of a gear-wheel mounted in suitable bearings and provided upon one face with an attached ratchet-wheel, a lever fulcrumed upon the bearings of the gear, provided with a pawl adapted for contact with the ratchet, a pinion fixed upon the spindle, meshing with the said gear-wheel, a second gear loosely mounted upon a spindle, and a spring having one end attached to the said spindle and to the said second gear, substantially as shown and described, and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination, with a propeller and its shaft, of a spur-wheel held to revolve upon a spindle, provided with a ratchet secured to one face, a lever carrying a pawl, fulcrumed upon the spindle of the said spur-wheel, a pinion attached to a spindle and meshing with said spurgear, a second spur gear loosely mounted upon the pinion-spindle, a

spring having one end attached to the said.

pinion-spindle and the other end to the second spur-gear at or near its periphery, and a driveshaft having connection with the propeller shaft and the spring-carrying spur-wheel, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with a propeller. and its shaft, of a spur-wheel held to revolve upon a spindle provided with a ratchet secured to one face, a lever carrying a pawl fulcrumed upon the spindle of said spur-wheel, a pin ion attached to a spindle and meshing with of said gears, a pinion fixedly secured to a spindle and meshing with the second spurgear, a third spur-gear loosely mounted upon the pinion-spindle, a spring attached to the said spindle and to the third spur-gear near the periphery of the latter, and a connection between the spring-carrying spur-gear and the drive-shaft, substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

SEYMOUR LEBENHEIM.

Witnesses: v

F. S. SEXToN,

G. W. MANDRILL. 

